About

comprehensive studies of risk factors of cancer development and progression;

novel strategies for prevention, screening, early detection and personalized treatment of cancer.

The iCaRe2 has standardized and integrated multi-center cancer-specific registries and associated biospecimen banks, created and maintained by the Biomedical Informatics Core at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, into a resource that improves the efficiency of cancer-related research and facilitates collaborations among centers. Each registry utilizes a well-established model for collaborative research based on the confederation principle and governed by a steering committee according to the agreed-upon bylaws. As of March 2020, data on almost 30,000 subjects (cancer patients, high-risk individuals, and normal controls) along with more than 60,000 biospecimens have been collected in the iCaRe2 registries. These registries are currently utilized at 63 institutions (87 distinct sites) from 23 U.S. states and one center in Italy.

The iCaRe2 utilizes a novel metadata-driven software architecture approach that greatly simplifies support, maintenance, and future upgrades of the collaborative cancer registries and improves the interoperability with other related systems.

The iCaRe2 addresses:

the needs of end-users for easy-to-use, customizable and effortlessly maintainable data collection systems;

federal regulations for protection of patient information;

requirements of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for systems interoperability, standardization and data sharing.

Researchers are not limited to collecting data from a small pool of subjects based on region or an institution. The iCaRe2 broadens researcher samplings and allows scientists from all over the world to access data from a much larger collection base. Ultimately, this information will be improving patient care and the development of cancer treatments.

The following cancer-specific registries are currently enrolling subjects: